The BBC has lost a piece of English heritage:

Hungarian gangsters might have achieved what the Sheriff of Nottingham couldn't - stopping Robin Hood.

Master tapes for the BBC's new Robin Hood series have been stolen and held for $2.5 million ransom, British newspapers reported yesterday.

A Hungarian extra was thought to have swiped the tapes from a Budapest studio where the 13-part series was being edited, the Daily Mirror reported.

It quoted a BBC source as saying: "This is an absolute disaster. There's no back up recording."

Hungarian gangsters? Or people who just hate revisionism?

The BBC Drama website describes the series as Robin Hood with a "striking new look" that updates "the popular legend for a sophisticated contemporary audience".

"I think we've come up with something cool that's both modern and medieval, with a bit of street, I've even got a hoodie!" the show's Robin, Jonas Armstrong, enthuses.

A hoodie? You're Robin, the Hooded Man, doofus.

The thieves are asking for one million pounds. The producers are mulling over paying it. As a bit of trivia, when Richard the Lionheart was held captive Henry VI, the ransom demanded was 150,000 pounds, or twice the annual income of the English Crown.

In 2005, the UK took in US$881.4 billion in revenues, so twice that would nearly US$1.9 trillion!

None of this is relevant, really, but interesting.